Thursday, March 27, 2008

Has Wendy Alexander Revealed the Date of the Next Election?

The hapless Wendy Alexander, labour's Scottish leader, may have let the cat out of the bag about the date of the next election, according to today's Glasgow Herald...

Labour is planning to delay the Westminster election to the last possible months, according to its leader at Holyrood. Wendy Alexander has let slip that the party machine is gearing up to fight the election in 2010, when the five-year maximum term is up. As Prime Minister and with the choice of timing, Gordon Brown has not been clear when he wants to call the next General Election, having been badly burned by his close aides talking up a snap election last autumn.He has refused to say if the ballot would take place in 2009, four years since the last national ballot, and following a pattern of four-year elections established by Tony Blair. But as one of those close to the Prime Minister, whose brother Douglas is Labour's campaign manager, Ms Alexander said in an interview with Holyrood magazine this week that Labour is planning on 2010. Talking about the reforms of the Scottish Labour campaigning machine, she said: "We're now in a continuous campaigning environment where we look forward to European elections next year, the General Election the year after that, the Scottish Parliament election the year after that and the council elections the year after, and really transforming our organisation for that environment." While Gordon Brown can call the election any time before June 2010, his Holyrood colleague's comments do not come as a surprise. Uncertainty in the economy and poor poll ratings make it unlikely he would risk going a year earlier than he has to by law. Election timing has proven to be a major problem for Mr Brown. His team's planning for a snap election last autumn was suddenly thrown into reverse when the Tories received a polling boost from their conference.

Is it possible that Wendy's brother, wee Dougie Alexander, has let a state secret slip?

I somehow doubt it - it may be just mis/dis information, or just a recognition that they will have to consider the possibility that the election may be delayed beyond 2009, so that they have to have contingency plans.

Of course I could be completely and utterly wrong, but it is a very, very 'brave' politician to leave the election to the last possible moment and lose the 'element of surprise' which is the main ace that an incumbent PM has up his sleeve...

Mind you, we are talking Bendy Wendy here, so I guess anything is still possible..

Iain...I hate to be cruel, but...Wee Wendy is not very photogenic is she...She looks like she has had a 'lip job' that's gone wrong...To be even more cruel, she could be straight from central casting as Mrs Bean.....If you read the comments section in both the Scotsman and Herald you will see very, very few supportive comments for Wendy...or indeed Nu Lab generally...They are a busted flush in Scotland..Thank God..Martin

Gordo knows in his heart of hearts that he is very unlikely to win the next election, or even win without a majority, so being the man that he is, he will cling on until almost the last possible moment before he is forced out of office!

Labour will hang on to the last minute and Gordo will step down a month ahead of the poll, saying he's been at the top for 13 years, younger generation, new-new labour, blah, blah, so long, and thanks for all the illiberalism.....

I admire everyone's confidence that there will be a next election. This lot may be generally regarded as a bunch of incompetent morons, but they bestride the stage of their own imaginations like colossi. They will not take it well if an ungrateful electorate does not show them the deference that they regard as their due.If a 2010 election should prove unwinnable, what's wrong with 2011 or 2012? How can Mr Bean turn his vision into reality if we are too mean to grant him the time? Why have an election at all if the only Government with the intellect & the ability to run the country is already in office. The enabling act to make this possible has already been drafted.

Classic today at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament.Tories, Lib/Dems and Labour oppose a multi-question referendum on the constitution---particularly Labour, with strings being pulled by Brown.So in one of Wendy's interminable questions she slips in a snide comment about "gerrymandering" by Alex Salmond, who answers by reading out part of a speech by Brown in 1992 insisting to the then Conservative Governmenton on a multi-question referendum on the Scottish Constitution, and names Brown's research assistant at the time----Wendy Alexander!The woman's worth her weight in gold to the SNP.

Do you think your Mr Brown will worry about the niceties of electoral etiquette? There are a hundred ways to postpone an election. This is a desperate, dishonest man. A moral midget with a bogie fetish, who can, like a Russian oligarch, create a crisis and thus avert a general election after the five-year term expires. He will wipe you all on the back of his mucuous stained necktie.

He will never be Prime Minister with a public mandate and he knows it. His most obvious modus operandi will be to attempt changes in the electoral system as a last ditch plan to salvage his foetid administration. Every act of this Government is now devoted to self-preservation.

You are sleepwalking into totalitarianism. It will be so easy for me to take over once Brown has put in place the model infrastructure.

Sadly, none of you will be able to escape, as the pound sterling is about to nosedive again on the international markets.